The Thistle Archive

This Brussels-born forward, of Congolese heritage, began in the youth sides of Anderlecht and FC Brussels before being scouted by Portsmouth where the 18-year-old signed his first pro contract in 2008. Andréa was sent on loan from Portsmouth to feeder club Zulte Waregem in August 2008. He netted on his debut for Waregem, scoring in the 89th minute against Mechelen, just minutes after being subbed into the game. He scored again in his next match against Tubize. After 14 games and 3 goals for Waregem, his loan spell was cut short due to some sort of falling out with the Belgian club officials who, reportedly, were not happy with his attitude. Following his release from Portsmouth, he underwent trials at Dutch Eredivisie side NEC and was linked with moves to Genoa, Sporting CP and Sporting Braga. On 19 June 2009, the 19-year-old joined Standard Liège on a two-year deal, followed by a move to Cercle Brugge on a one-year deal in 2011. He had been a youth international for Belgium at under-19 level but, in February 2011, he made his debut for the DR Congo national team, appearing in a friendly match versus Gabon, played in neutral France. The 21-year-old got a second cap 6 months later, appearing in a 0-3 friendly loss away to Gambia. In July 2015, after a couple of years in Croatian and French football with Rijeka, Istra and Fréjus Saint-Raphaël, he signed a one-year deal with Inverness Caledonian Thistle of the Scottish Premiership. He scored his first goal for Inverness in a 2–0 Scottish Cup win over Stirling Albion on 19 January 2016.

After another season in Croatian football with RNK Split, Andréa returned to Scotland in August 2018, signing a one-year deal with Alan Archibald's (recently relegated) Partick Thistle side. Andréa made his debut in the red and yellow at Stair Park against Stranraer in the Challenge Cup and joined the 'scoring debutants club' as he turned Aidan Fitzpatrick’s cross home from close range to grab the visitors’ third goal of five on the night. He followed that up with another goal four days later, once again linking up with Aidan Fitzpatrick for a highly celebrated Firhill equaliser against Celtic in the League Cup, although the Jags lost out 1-3 in the end. His personal hot-start continued in his 4th game when he put Thistle one up away to East Fife in the Challenge Cup, but the subsequent 2-1 defeat at Bayview had alarm bells ringing and the team was booed off the park. Manager Alan Archibald was sacked the following month and Andréa failed to impress in 3 games under new gaffer Gary Caldwell and, by January 2019, he had left the club by mutual consent. Post-Thistle, he had two and a half years in Swiss football with Stade Lausanne Ouchy and Neuchâtel Xamax before retiring at the end of the 'Covid season' of 2020-21.

Andréa is included in our feature piece, The Definitive Who's Who Of The Partick Thistle Internationalists →